Identifying a contact type

ABSTRACT

A signal to be used to propagate a propagating signal through a propagating medium with a touch input surface is sent. The propagating signal has been allowed to propagate through the propagating medium to a plurality of receivers coupled to the propagating medium. A received signal affected by a contact contacting the touch input surface is received. At least a portion of the received signal is compared with one or more reference signal signatures.

CROSS REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/578,953 entitled IDENTIFYING A CONTACT TYPE filed Sep. 23, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/243,803 entitled USING A TYPE OF OBJECT TO PROVIDE A TOUCH CONTACT INPUT filed Jan. 9, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,466,836, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/939,911 entitled DETECTION OF TYPE OF OBJECT USED TO PROVIDE A TOUCH CONTACT INPUT filed Mar. 29, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,209,825, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/882,193 entitled DETECTION OF TYPE OF OBJECT USED TO PROVIDE A TOUCH CONTACT INPUT filed Oct. 13, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,983,718, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/945,649 entitled DETECTION OF TYPE OF OBJECT USED TO PROVIDE A TOUCH CONTACT INPUT filed Jul. 18, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,189,109, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/673,103, entitled DETECTION OF NUMBER OF CONTACT POINTS IN A TOUCH SENSING SYSTEM filed Jul. 18, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

This application is a continuation in part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/227,852 entitled DETECTING TOUCH INPUT FORCE filed Dec. 20, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/681,294 entitled DETECTING TOUCH INPUT FORCE filed Nov. 19, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,198,097, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/561,697 entitled TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEM UTILIZING ADDITIONAL AXIS INFORMATION filed Nov. 18, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/561,660 entitled TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEM UTILIZING ADDITIONAL AXIS INFORMATION FOR SELECTED APPLICATIONS filed Nov. 18, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/673,102 entitled UTILIZING TOUCH PRESSURE INFORMATION IN GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES filed Jul. 18, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/681,294 entitled DETECTING TOUCH INPUT FORCE filed Nov. 19, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,198,097, is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/451,288 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACTIVE ULTRASONIC TOUCH DEVICES filed Apr. 19, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,477,350, which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/479,331 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACTIVE ULTRASONIC TOUCH DEVICES filed Apr. 26, 2011 which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/594,255 entitled TOUCH SCREEN DEVICE SIGNAL DESIGNS AND METHODS filed Feb. 2, 2012 which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various technologies have been used to detect a touch input on a display area. The most popular technologies today include capacitive and resistive touch detection technology. Using resistive touch technology, often a glass panel is coated with multiple conductive layers that register touches when physical pressure is applied to the layers to force the layers to make physical contact. Using capacitive touch technology, often a glass panel is coated with material that can hold an electrical charge sensitive to a human finger. By detecting the change in the electrical charge due to a touch, a touch location can be detected. However, with resistive and capacitive touch detection technologies, the glass screen is required to be coated with a material that reduces the clarity of the glass screen. Additionally, because the entire glass screen is required to be coated with a material, manufacturing and component costs can become prohibitively expensive as larger screens are desired.

Another type of touch detection technology includes surface acoustic wave technology. One example includes the Elo Touch Systems Acoustic Pulse Recognition, commonly called APR, manufactured by Elo Touch Systems of 301 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, Calif. 94025. The APR system includes transducers attached to the edges of a touchscreen glass that pick up the sound emitted on the glass due to a touch. However, the surface glass may pick up other external sounds and vibrations that reduce the accuracy and effectiveness of the APR system to efficiently detect a touch input. Another example includes the Surface Acoustic Wave-based technology, commonly called SAW, such as the Elo IntelliTouch Plus™ of Elo Touch Systems. The SAW technology sends ultrasonic waves in a guided pattern using reflectors on the touch screen to detect a touch. However, sending the ultrasonic waves in the guided pattern increases costs and may be difficult to achieve. Detecting additional types of inputs, such as multi-touch inputs, may not be possible or may be difficult using SAW or APR technology.

Additionally, current touch detection technology cannot reliably, accurately, and efficiently detect pressure or force of a touch input. Although prior attempts have been made to detect pressure of touch input by measuring the relative size of a touch input (e.g., as a finger presses harder on a screen, area of the finger contacting the screen proportionally increases), these attempts produce unreliable results when a hard stylus or different sized fingers are used. Therefore there exists a need for a better way to detect an input on a surface. Once force or pressure of a touch input can be reliably detected, user interface interaction utilizing force or pressure may be provided.

Popularity of devices such as tablet computers and smartphones has spawned an ecosystem of software applications utilizing touch input detection. The ability to reliably and efficiently detect touch input location on a display surface has enabled applications to take advantage of new user interface interaction patterns to offer enhanced application usability across a wide range of inexpensive devices. Further enhanced usability may be enabled if it is possible to detect a type of object that is providing the touch input. For example, the ability to distinguish between a human finger and a stylus contacting a touchscreen may be utilized by an application to provide different functionality based on the type of object used to provide the touch input. It has been difficult for prior touch input devices to reliably and inexpensively detect a type of object contacting the touch input surface of a device. Therefore, there exists a need for a way to more efficiently detect a type of object used to provide a touch input.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system for detecting a touch input surface disturbance.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system for detecting a touch input.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for calibrating and validating touch detection.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for detecting a user touch input.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance on a surface.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining time domain signal capturing of a disturbance caused by a touch input.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process comparing spatial domain signals with one or more expected signals to determine touch contact location(s) of a touch input.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for selecting a selected hypothesis set of touch contact location(s).

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining the number of simultaneous touch contacts.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a type of object used to provide a touch contact.

FIG. 11 shows a waveform diagram of an example received/filtered signal that has been identified with touch contact object types.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance on a surface.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process of determining a force associated with a user input.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining an entry of a data structure used to determine a force intensity identifier.

FIG. 16 includes graphs illustrating examples of a relationship between a normalized amplitude value of a measured disturbance and an applied force.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for providing a combined force.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for providing a user interface interaction.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to drag and drop an item into a file system folder.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to provide a context menu.

FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 are diagrams showing examples of user interface interactions using force information to navigate a menu.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to interact with a virtual keyboard.

FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 are diagrams showing example user interface interactions using force information to zoom and select user interface objects.

FIG. 26 is a graph illustrating an example of a relationship between detected touch input force and direction of change in audio volume.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to interact with a slider bar.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or a processor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task may be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’ refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores configured to process data, such as computer program instructions.

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

Determining a type of object utilized to provide a touch input is disclosed. In some embodiments, a signal that captures a disturbance (e.g., sound, vibration, etc.) by a touch input object contacting a touch input surface is received. For example, when an object contacts a touch input surface, a sound is generated from the object striking the touch input surface and the generated sound is captured by a sensor attached to a medium (e.g., glass) of the touch input surface as an acoustic signal. In some embodiments, the received signal is received from a transducer coupled to a medium of the touch input surface.

At least a portion of the received signal is compared with one or more signatures of one or more touch input object types. For example, for each detectable touch input object type, an associated signature is predetermined (e.g., acoustic signal detected from each sample touch input object type is captured as an signature of the sample touch input object type) and stored in a library of signatures. A type of the touch input object contacting the touch input surface is determined based at least in part on the comparison. For example, if at least a portion of the received signal matches a predetermined signature corresponding to a particular touch input object type, the particular touch input object type is identified as the type of touch input object contacting the touch input surface.

Detecting a force of a touch input is disclosed. In some embodiments, an acoustic transducer transmits an acoustic wave through a medium of a touch input surface. The acoustic wave may be scattered by the touch input producing a scattered acoustic wave. An acoustic detector that detects the scattered acoustic wave and the acoustic detector outputs a signal indicating variation of the acoustic wave that is indicative of an amount of force associated with the touch input. In some embodiments, the force of a touch input is associated with the amount of deflection or movement of a touch surface medium caused by a touch input. For example, as a finger or stylus touches and pushes a touch input surface harder, the amount of force detected gets functionally larger as well. The pressure of a touch input is the force of touch input per unit area of the touch input. For example, the total force of a touch input divided by the area of contact of the touch input equals the pressure of the touch input. Although force of a touch input is utilized in the specification, pressure of a touch input may be used as well. In some cases, when a user pushes harder on a surface such as a touch screen display with a fingertip, the pressure of the touch input may stay substantially constant because the size of the fingertip in contact with the surface becomes larger due to the softness of the fingertip. In order to detect that the user is pushing harder on the surface, the total force of the touch input may be used instead of the pressure of the touch input. In some embodiments, a force of a touch input is used to provide user interface interaction.

In some embodiments, a user touch input on the glass surface of a display screen is detected. In some embodiments, a signal such as an acoustic or ultrasonic signal is propagated freely through a propagating medium with a surface using a transmitter coupled to the medium. When the surface is touched, the propagated signal is disturbed (e.g., the touch causes an interference with the propagated signal). In some embodiments, the disturbed signal is received at a sensor coupled to the propagating medium. By processing the received signal and comparing it against an expected signal without the disturbance, a location on the surface associated with the touch input is at least in part determined. For example, the disturbed signal is received at a plurality of sensors and a relative time difference between when the disturbed signal was received at different sensors is used to determine the location on the surface. In various embodiments, the touch includes a physical contact to a surface using a human finger, pen, pointer, stylus, and/or any other body parts or objects that can be used to contact or disturb the surface. In some embodiments, the touch includes an input gesture and/or a multi-touch input.

In some embodiments, the disturbed signal is used to determine one or more of the following associated with a touch input: a gesture, a coordinate position, a time, a time frame, a direction, a velocity, a force magnitude, a proximity magnitude, a pressure, a size, and other measurable or derived parameters. In some embodiments, by detecting disturbances of a freely propagated signal, touch input detection technology can be applied to larger surface regions with less or no additional cost due to a larger surface region as compared to certain previous touch detection technologies. Additionally, the optical transparency of a touch screen may not have to be affected as compared to resistive and capacitive touch technologies. Merely by way of example, the touch detection described herein can be applied to a variety of objects such as a kiosk, an ATM, a computing device, an entertainment device, a digital signage apparatus, a cell phone, a tablet computer, a point of sale terminal, a food and restaurant apparatus, a gaming device, a casino game and application, a piece of furniture, a vehicle, an industrial application, a financial application, a medical device, an appliance, and any other objects or devices having surfaces.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system for detecting a touch input surface disturbance. In some embodiments, the system shown in FIG. 1 is included in a kiosk, an ATM, a computing device, an entertainment device, a digital signage apparatus, a cell phone, a tablet computer, a point of sale terminal, a food and restaurant apparatus, a gaming device, a casino game and application, a piece of furniture, a vehicle, an industrial application, a financial application, a medical device, an appliance, and any other objects or devices having surfaces. Propagating signal medium 102 is coupled to transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 and sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118. The locations where transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 and sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 have been coupled to propagating signal medium 102, as shown in FIG. 1, are merely an example. Other configurations of transmitter and sensor locations may exist in various embodiments. Although FIG. 1 shows sensors located adjacent to transmitters, sensors may be located apart from transmitters in other embodiments. In various embodiments, the propagating medium includes one or more of the following: panel, table, glass, screen, door, floor, whiteboard, plastic, wood, steel, metal, semiconductor, insulator, conductor, and any medium that is able to propagate an acoustic or ultrasonic signal. For example, medium 102 is glass of a display screen. A first surface of medium 102 includes a surface area where a user may touch to provide a selection input and a substantially opposite surface of medium 102 is coupled to the transmitters and sensors shown in FIG. 1. In various embodiments, a surface of medium 102 is substantially flat, curved, or combinations thereof and may be configured in a variety of shapes such as rectangular, square, oval, circular, trapezoidal, annular, or any combination of these, and the like.

Propagating signal medium 102 is coupled to sensor 124. For example, sensor 124 is coupled to one surface of propagating signal medium 102 and the same or another surface (e.g., opposing surface) of propagating signal medium 102 may be configured to receive a touch input. The location of sensor 124 on propagating signal medium 102, as shown in FIG. 1, is merely an example. Other location configurations of sensor 124 may exist in various embodiments. Although a single sensor 124 has been shown to simplify the illustration, any number of sensors of the type of sensor 124 may be included. In some embodiments, sensor 124 is a sensor dedicated to detecting a number of touch input contacts received on medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input, and sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 are dedicated to detecting one or more touch locations of the touch input. For example, sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 detect ultrasonic frequencies of an active signal that has been disturbed by a touch input contact, and sensor 124 detects audible frequencies of a sound caused by a touch input object striking medium 102. In some embodiments, sensor 124 is one of a plurality of sensors used to identify a number of touch input contacts received on propagating signal medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input. In an alternative embodiment, one or more of sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 are used to identify a number of touch input contacts received on medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input. For example, sensor 124 is not utilized and one or more of sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 are used to identify a number of touch input contacts received on medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input in addition to being used to detect a location of a touch input.

Acoustic processor 126 receives signal detected by sensor 124. The received signal may be processed by acoustic processor 126 to identify a number of touch input contacts received on medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input. In some embodiments, the received signal may be processed/filtered to reduce noise. For example, a component of the received signal that is likely not associated with an acoustic noise of a touch input is filtered/removed. In order to detect noise, one or more signals from sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 may be utilized. In some embodiments, acoustic processor 126 utilizes a database/library of touch input object waveform signatures to detect a type of object used to contact medium 102. The database may be stored in acoustic processor 126 and/or an external database may be utilized. Acoustic processor 126 outputs one or more identifiers of a number of received touch input contacts and/or type(s) of object(s) used to provide touch input contact(s) to touch detector 120 and/or application system 122. For example, the identifier number of received touch input contacts may be used by touch detector 120 to determine a touch input location for each of the received touch input contacts and the type of identifier may be used by application system 122 to provide different application functionality based on the type of identifier. In an alternative embodiment, the functionality of acoustic processor 126 is provided by touch detector 120 and acoustic processor 126 is not utilized. In some embodiments, acoustic processor 126 and touch detector 120 are integrated on a same chip.

In some embodiments, acoustic processor 126 may be powered down when idle, waiting for an appropriate contact event to be detected by sensors 112, 114, 116, 118, or 124 and/or touch detector 120. In an example where the touch input surface is the screen of a mobile computing device, the device could be in a low power state until an appropriate event is detected to “wakeup” the device.

Although the example of FIG. 1 shows touch input location detection by detecting disturbances of an active signal, in an alternative embodiment, sensor 124 and/or acoustic processor 126 may be utilized with other types of touch input location detection technology to identify a number of touch input contacts received on medium 102 and/or a type of object used to contact medium 102 to provide a touch input. For example, sensor 124 and/or acoustic processor 126 may be utilized with capacitive, resistive, Acoustic Pulse Recognition, or Surface Acoustic Wave-based touch detection technology. In some embodiments using resistive touch technology, a touch input medium is coated with multiple conductive layers that register touches when physical pressure is applied to the layers to force the layers to make physical contact. In some embodiments using capacitive touch technology, a touch input is coated with material that can hold an electrical charge sensitive to a human finger. By detecting the change in the electrical charge due to a touch input, a touch location of the touch input may be detected. In the capacitive touch technology example, transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 and sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 do not exist and instead medium 102 is configured to detect changes in capacitance due to a touch input contact. In some embodiments, Acoustic Pulse Recognition includes transducers attached to the edges of a touchscreen glass that pick up the sound emitted on the glass due to a touch input. In some embodiments, Surface Acoustic Wave-based technology sends ultrasonic waves in a guided pattern using reflectors on the touch screen to detect a touch.

Examples of transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 include piezoelectric transducers, electromagnetic transducers, transmitters, sensors, and/or any other transmitters and transducers capable of propagating a signal through medium 102. Examples of sensors 112, 114, 116, 118, and 124 include piezoelectric transducers, electromagnetic transducers, laser vibrometer transmitters, and/or any other sensors and transducers capable of detecting a signal on medium 102. In some embodiments, a transducer is designed to convert acoustic and/or vibrational energy on the touch input surface to an electronic signal for processing. In some embodiments, the transmitters and sensors shown in FIG. 1 are coupled to medium 102 in a manner that allows a user's input to be detected in a predetermined region of medium 102. Although four transmitters and four sensors are shown, any number of transmitters and any number of sensors may be used in other embodiments. For example, two transmitters and three sensors may be used. In some embodiments, a single transducer acts as both a transmitter and a sensor. For example, transmitter 104 and sensor 112 represent a single piezoelectric transducer. In the example shown, transmitter 104 may propagate a signal through medium 102. Sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 receive the propagated signal. In another embodiment, the transmitters/sensors in FIG. 1 are attached to a flexible cable coupled to medium 102 via an encapsulant and/or glue material and/or fasteners.

Touch detector 120 is connected to the transmitters and sensors shown in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, detector 120 includes one or more of the following: an integrated circuit chip, a printed circuit board, a processor, and other electrical components and connectors. Detector 120 determines and sends a signal to be propagated by transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110. Detector 120 also receives the signal detected by sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118. The received signals are processed by detector 120 to determine whether a disturbance associated with a user input has been detected at a location on a surface of medium 102 associated with the disturbance. Detector 120 is in communication with application system 122. Application system 122 uses information provided by detector 120. For example, application system 122 receives from detector 120 a coordinate associated with a user touch input that is used by application system 122 to control a software application of application system 122. In some embodiments, application system 122 includes a processor and/or memory/storage. In other embodiments, detector 120 and application system 122 are at least in part included/processed in a single processor. An example of data provided by detector 120 to application system 122 includes one or more of the following associated with a user indication: a location coordinate of a surface of medium 102, a gesture, simultaneous user indications (e.g., multi-touch input), a time, a status, a direction, a velocity, a force magnitude, a proximity magnitude, a pressure, a size, and other measurable or derived information.

In some embodiments, a touch input is received at location 130 on a surface of medium 102. For example, a user touches the surface of medium 102 at location 130. In some embodiments, one or more of transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 transmit one or more active signals that are propagated through medium 102. The touch input at location 130 disturbs (e.g., scatters) the propagated signal(s) and the disturbed signals are received at sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118. By measuring the disturbance(s) of the propagated signal(s), the location and/or a force associated with the touch input may be determined.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system for detecting a touch input. In some embodiments, touch detector 202 is included in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the system of FIG. 2 is integrated in an integrated circuit chip. Touch detector 202 includes system clock 204 that provides a synchronous system time source to one or more other components of detector 202. Controller 210 controls data flow and/or commands between microprocessor 206, interface 208, DSP engine 220, and signal generator 212. In some embodiments, microprocessor 206 processes instructions and/or calculations that can be used to program software/firmware and/or process data of detector 202. In some embodiments, a memory is coupled to microprocessor 206 and is configured to provide microprocessor 206 with instructions. Signal generator 212 generates a signal to be used to propagate a signal such as a signal propagated by transmitter 104 of FIG. 1. For example, signal generator 212 generates a pseudorandom binary sequence signal. Driver 214 receives the signal from generator 212 and drives one or more transmitters, such as transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 of FIG. 1, to propagate a signal through a medium.

A signal detected from a sensor such as sensor 112 of FIG. 1 is received by detector 202 and signal conditioner 216 conditions (e.g., filters) the received analog signal for further processing. For example, signal conditioner 216 receives the signal output by driver 214 and performs echo cancellation of the signal received by signal conditioner 216. The conditioned signal is converted to a digital signal by analog-to-digital converter 218. The converted signal is processed by digital signal processor engine 220. For example, DSP engine 220 correlates the converted signal against a reference signal to determine a time domain signal that represents a time delay caused by a touch input on a propagated signal. In some embodiments, DSP engine 220 performs dispersion compensation. For example, the time delay signal that results from correlation is compensated for dispersion in the touch input surface medium and translated to a spatial domain signal that represents a physical distance traveled by the propagated signal disturbed by the touch input. In some embodiments, DSP engine 220 performs base pulse correlation. For example, the spatial domain signal is filtered using a match filter to reduce noise in the signal.

A result of DSP engine 220 may be used by microprocessor 206 to determine a location associated with a user touch input. For example, microprocessor 206 determines a hypothesis location where a touch input may have been received and calculates an expected signal that is expected to be generated if a touch input was received at the hypothesis location and the expected signal is compared with a result of DSP engine 220 to determine whether a touch input was provided at the hypothesis location.

Interface 208 provides an interface for microprocessor 206 and controller 210 that allows an external component to access and/or control detector 202. For example, interface 208 allows detector 202 to communicate with application system 122 of FIG. 1 and provides the application system with location information associated with a user touch input.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for calibrating and validating touch detection. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 3 is used at least in part to calibrate and validate the system of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2. At 302, locations of signal transmitters and sensors with respect to a surface are determined. For example, locations of transmitters and sensors shown in FIG. 1 are determined with respect to their location on a surface of medium 102. In some embodiments, determining the locations includes receiving location information. In various embodiments, one or more of the locations may be fixed and/or variable.

At 304, signal transmitters and sensors are calibrated. In some embodiments, calibrating the transmitter includes calibrating a characteristic of a signal driver and/or transmitter (e.g., strength). In some embodiments, calibrating the sensor includes calibrating a characteristic of a sensor (e.g., sensitivity). In some embodiments, the calibration of 304 is performed to optimize the coverage and improve signal-to-noise transmission/detection of a signal (e.g., acoustic or ultrasonic) to be propagated through a medium and/or a disturbance to be detected. For example, one or more components of the system of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2 are tuned to meet a signal-to-noise requirement. In some embodiments, the calibration of 304 depends on the size and type of a transmission/propagation medium and geometric configuration of the transmitters/sensors. In some embodiments, the calibration of step 304 includes detecting a failure or aging of a transmitter or sensor. In some embodiments, the calibration of step 304 includes cycling the transmitter and/or receiver. For example, to increase the stability and reliability of a piezoelectric transmitter and/or receiver, a burn-in cycle is performed using a burn-in signal. In some embodiments, the step of 304 includes configuring at least one sensing device within a vicinity of a predetermined spatial region to capture an indication associated with a disturbance using the sensing device. The disturbance is caused in a selected portion of the input signal corresponding to a selection portion of the predetermined spatial region.

At 306, surface disturbance detection is calibrated. In some embodiments, a test signal is propagated through a medium such as medium 102 of FIG. 1 to determine an expected sensed signal when no disturbance has been applied. In some embodiments, a test signal is propagated through a medium to determine a sensed signal when one or more predetermined disturbances (e.g., predetermined touch) are applied at a predetermined location. Using the sensed signal, one or more components may be adjusted to calibrate the disturbance detection. In some embodiments, the test signal is used to determine a signal that can be later used to process/filter a detected signal disturbed by a touch input.

In some embodiments, data determined using one or more steps of FIG. 3 is used to determine data (e.g., formula, variable, coefficients, etc.) that can be used to calculate an expected signal that would result when a touch input is provided at a specific location on a touch input surface. For example, one or more predetermined test touch disturbances are applied at one or more specific locations on the touch input surface and a test propagating signal that has been disturbed by the test touch disturbance is used to determine the data (e.g., transmitter/sensor parameters) that is to be used to calculate an expected signal that would result when a touch input is provided at the one or more specific locations.

At 308, a validation of a touch detection system is performed. For example, the system of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2 is testing using predetermined disturbance patterns to determine detection accuracy, detection resolution, multi-touch detection, and/or response time. If the validation fails, the process of FIG. 3 may be at least in part repeated and/or one or more components may be adjusted before performing another validation.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for detecting a user touch input. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 4 is at least in part implemented on touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 402, a signal that can be used to propagate an active signal through a surface region is sent. In some embodiments, sending the signal includes driving (e.g., using driver 214 of FIG. 2) a transmitter such as a transducer (e.g., transmitter 104 of FIG. 1) to propagate an active signal (e.g., acoustic or ultrasonic mechanical wave) through a propagating medium with the surface region. In some embodiments, the signal includes a sequence selected to optimize autocorrelation (e.g., resulting in narrow/short peaks) of the signal. For example, the signal includes a Zadoff-Chu sequence. In some embodiments, the signal includes a pseudorandom binary sequence with or without modulation. In some embodiments, the propagated signal is an acoustic signal. In some embodiments, the propagated signal is an ultrasonic signal (e.g., outside the range of human hearing). For example, the propagated signal is a signal above 20 kHz (e.g., within the range between 80 kHz to 100 kHz). In other embodiments, the propagated signal may be within the range of human hearing. In some embodiments, by using the active signal, a user input on or near the surface region can be detected by detecting disturbances in the active signal when it is received by a sensor on the propagating medium. By using an active signal rather than merely listening passively for a user touch indication on the surface, other vibrations and disturbances that are not likely associated with a user touch indication can be more easily discerned/filtered out. In some embodiments, the active signal is used in addition to receiving a passive signal from a user input to determine the user input.

At 404, the active signal that has been disturbed by a disturbance of the surface region is received. The disturbance may be associated with a user touch indication. In some embodiments, the disturbance causes the active signal that is propagating through a medium to be attenuated and/or delayed. In some embodiments, the disturbance in a selected portion of the active signal corresponds to a location on the surface that has been indicated (e.g., touched) by a user.

At 406, the received signal is processed to at least in part determine a location associated with the disturbance. In some embodiments, receiving the received signal and processing the received signal are performed on a periodic interval. For example, the received signal is captured in 5 ms intervals and processed. In some embodiments, determining the location includes extracting a desired signal from the received signal at least in part by removing or reducing undesired components of the received signal such as disturbances caused by extraneous noise and vibrations not useful in detecting a touch input. In some embodiments, determining the location includes processing the received signal and comparing the processed received signal with a calculated expected signal associated with a hypothesis touch contact location to determine whether a touch contact was received at the hypothesis location of the calculated expected signal. Multiple comparisons may be performed with various expected signals associated with different hypothesis locations until the expected signal that best matches the processed received signal is found and the hypothesis location of the matched expected signal is identified as the touch contact location(s) of a touch input. For example, signals received by sensors (e.g., sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 of FIG. 1) from various transmitters (e.g., transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 of FIG. 1) are compared with corresponding expected signals to determine a touch input location (e.g., single or multi-touch locations) that minimizes the overall difference between all respective received and expected signals.

The location, in some embodiments, is one or more locations (e.g., location coordinate(s)) on the surface region where a user has provided a touch contact. In addition to determining the location, one or more of the following information associated with the disturbance may be determined at 406: a gesture, simultaneous user indications (e.g., multi-touch input), a time, a status, a direction, a velocity, a force magnitude, a proximity magnitude, a pressure, a size, and other measurable or derived information. In some embodiments, the location is not determined at 406 if a location cannot be determined using the received signal and/or the disturbance is determined to be not associated with a user input. Information determined at 406 may be provided and/or outputted.

Although FIG. 4 shows receiving and processing an active signal that has been disturbed, in some embodiments, a received signal has not been disturbed by a touch input and the received signal is processed to determine that a touch input has not been detected. An indication that a touch input has not been detected may be provided/outputted.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance on a surface. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 5 is included in 406 of FIG. 4. The process of FIG. 5 may be implemented in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the process of FIG. 5 is repeated for each combination of transmitter and sensor pair. For example, for each active signal transmitted by a transmitter (e.g., transmitted by transmitter 104, 106, 108, or 110 of FIG. 1), at least a portion of the process of FIG. 5 is repeated for each sensor (e.g., sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 of FIG. 1) receiving the active signal. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 5 is performed periodically (e.g., 5 ms periodic interval).

At 502, a received signal is conditioned. In some embodiments, the received signal is a signal including a pseudorandom binary sequence that has been freely propagated through a medium with a surface that can be used to receive a user input. For example, the received signal is the signal that has been received at 404 of FIG. 4. In some embodiments, conditioning the signal includes filtering or otherwise modifying the received signal to improve signal quality (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio) for detection of a pseudorandom binary sequence included in the received signal and/or user touch input. In some embodiments, conditioning the received signal includes filtering out from the signal extraneous noise and/or vibrations not likely associated with a user touch indication.

At 504, an analog to digital signal conversion is performed on the signal that has been conditioned at 502. In various embodiments, any number of standard analog to digital signal converters may be used.

At 506, a time domain signal capturing a received signal time delay caused by a touch input disturbance is determined. In some embodiments, determining the time domain signal includes correlating the received signal (e.g., signal resulting from 504) to locate a time offset in the converted signal (e.g., perform pseudorandom binary sequence deconvolution) where a signal portion that likely corresponds to a reference signal (e.g., reference pseudorandom binary sequence that has been transmitted through the medium) is located. For example, a result of the correlation can be plotted as a graph of time within the received and converted signal (e.g., time-lag between the signals) vs. a measure of similarity. In some embodiments, performing the correlation includes performing a plurality of correlations. For example, a coarse correlation is first performed then a second level of fine correlation is performed. In some embodiments, a baseline signal that has not been disturbed by a touch input disturbance is removed in the resulting time domain signal. For example, a baseline signal (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) representing a measured signal (e.g., a baseline time domain signal) associated with a received active signal that has not been disturbed by a touch input disturbance is subtracted from a result of the correlation to further isolate effects of the touch input disturbance by removing components of the steady state baseline signal not affected by the touch input disturbance.

At 508, the time domain signal is converted to a spatial domain signal. In some embodiments, converting the time domain signal includes converting the time domain signal determined at 506 into a spatial domain signal that translates the time delay represented in the time domain signal to a distance traveled by the received signal in the propagating medium due to the touch input disturbance. For example, a time domain signal that can be graphed as time within the received and converted signal vs. a measure of similarity is converted to a spatial domain signal that can be graphed as distance traveled in the medium vs. the measure of similarity.

In some embodiments, performing the conversion includes performing dispersion compensation. For example, using a dispersion curve characterizing the propagating medium, time values of the time domain signal are translated to distance values in the spatial domain signal. In some embodiments, a resulting curve of the time domain signal representing a distance likely traveled by the received signal due to a touch input disturbance is narrower than the curve contained in the time domain signal representing the time delay likely caused by the touch input disturbance. In some embodiments, the time domain signal is filtered using a match filter to reduce undesired noise in the signal. For example, using a template signal that represents an ideal shape of a spatial domain signal, the converted spatial domain signal is match filtered (e.g., spatial domain signal correlated with the template signal) to reduce noise not contained in the bandwidth of the template signal. The template signal may be predetermined (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) by applying a sample touch input to a touch input surface and measuring a received signal.

At 510, the spatial domain signal is compared with one or more expected signals to determine a touch input captured by the received signal. In some embodiments, comparing the spatial domain signal with the expected signal includes generating expected signals that would result if a touch contact was received at hypothesis locations. For example, a hypothesis set of one or more locations (e.g., single touch or multi-touch locations) where a touch input might have been received on a touch input surface is determined, and an expected spatial domain signal that would result at 508 if touch contacts were received at the hypothesis set of location(s) is determined (e.g., determined for a specific transmitter and sensor pair using data measured at 306 of FIG. 3). The expected spatial domain signal may be compared with the actual spatial signal determined at 508. The hypothesis set of one or more locations may be one of a plurality of hypothesis sets of locations (e.g., exhaustive set of possible touch contact locations on a coordinate grid dividing a touch input surface).

The proximity of location(s) of a hypothesis set to the actual touch contact location(s) captured by the received signal may be proportional to the degree of similarity between the expected signal of the hypothesis set and the spatial signal determined at 508. In some embodiments, signals received by sensors (e.g., sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 of FIG. 1) from transmitters (e.g., transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 of FIG. 1) are compared with corresponding expected signals for each sensor/transmitter pair to select a hypothesis set that minimizes the overall difference between all respective detected and expected signals. In some embodiments, once a hypothesis set is selected, another comparison between the determined spatial domain signals and one or more new expected signals associated with finer resolution hypothesis touch location(s) (e.g., locations on a new coordinate grid with more resolution than the coordinate grid used by the selected hypothesis set) near the location(s) of the selected hypothesis set is determined.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining time domain signal capturing of a disturbance caused by a touch input. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 6 is included in 506 of FIG. 5. The process of FIG. 6 may be implemented in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 602, a first correlation is performed. In some embodiments, performing the first correlation includes correlating a received signal (e.g., resulting converted signal determined at 504 of FIG. 5) with a reference signal. Performing the correlation includes cross-correlating or determining a convolution (e.g., interferometry) of the converted signal with a reference signal to measure the similarity of the two signals as a time-lag is applied to one of the signals. By performing the correlation, the location of a portion of the converted signal that most corresponds to the reference signal can be located. For example, a result of the correlation can be plotted as a graph of time within the received and converted signal (e.g., time-lag between the signals) vs. a measure of similarity. The associated time value of the largest value of the measure of similarity corresponds to the location where the two signals most correspond. By comparing this measured time value against a reference time value (e.g., at 306 of FIG. 3) not associated with a touch indication disturbance, a time delay/offset or phase difference caused on the received signal due to a disturbance caused by a touch input can be determined. In some embodiments, by measuring the amplitude/intensity difference of the received signal at the determined time vs. a reference signal, a force associated with a touch indication may be determined. In some embodiments, the reference signal is determined based at least in part on the signal that was propagated through a medium (e.g., based on a source pseudorandom binary sequence signal that was propagated). In some embodiments, the reference signal is at least in part determined using information determined during calibration at 306 of FIG. 3. The reference signal may be chosen so that calculations required to be performed during the correlation may be simplified. For example, the reference signal is a simplified reference signal that can be used to efficiently correlate the reference signal over a relatively large time difference (e.g., lag-time) between the received and converted signal and the reference signal.

At 604, a second correlation is performed based on a result of the first correlation. Performing the second correlation includes correlating (e.g., cross-correlation or convolution similar to step 602) a received signal (e.g., resulting converted signal determined at 504 of FIG. 5) with a second reference signal. The second reference signal is a more complex/detailed (e.g., more computationally intensive) reference signal as compared to the first reference signal used in 602. In some embodiments, the second correlation is performed because using the second reference signal in 602 may be too computationally intensive for the time interval required to be correlated in 602. Performing the second correlation based on the result of the first correlation includes using one or more time values determined as a result of the first correlation. For example, using a result of the first correlation, a range of likely time values (e.g., time-lag) that most correlate between the received signal and the first reference signal is determined and the second correlation is performed using the second reference signal only across the determined range of time values to fine tune and determine the time value that most corresponds to where the second reference signal (and, by association, also the first reference signal) matched the received signal. In various embodiments, the first and second correlations have been used to determine a portion within the received signal that corresponds to a disturbance caused by a touch input at a location on a surface of a propagating medium. In other embodiments, the second correlation is optional. For example, only a single correlation step is performed. Any number of levels of correlations may be performed in other embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process comparing spatial domain signals with one or more expected signals to determine touch contact location(s) of a touch input. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 7 is included in 510 of FIG. 5. The process of FIG. 7 may be implemented in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 702, a number of simultaneous touch contacts included in a touch input is determined. In some embodiments, when detecting a location of a touch contact, the number of simultaneous contacts being made to a touch input surface (e.g., surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1) is desired to be determined. For example, it is desired to determine the number of fingers touching a touch input surface (e.g., single touch or multi-touch). In some embodiments, an identifier of the number of simultaneous touch contacts is received from acoustic processor 126 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the number of touch contacts (e.g., fingers) touching a touch input surface may be determined by “counting” the number of touches/contacts (e.g., determine the number of times detected acoustic signal is above a threshold level) detected by an acoustic sensor within a predetermined amount of time. For example, when a user intends to touch a touch input screen with multiple fingers at the same time, it is rare for the fingers to land on the screen at the same time. There will likely be a small delay between when the fingers land on the touch surface. The number of impacts (e.g., determined by analyzing acoustic signal received from sensor 124 of FIG. 1) may be determined from determining the number of consecutive touches within a relatively short amount of time (e.g., within a predetermined amount of time).

At 704, one or more hypothesis sets of one or more touch contact locations associated with the determined number of simultaneous touch contacts are determined. In some embodiments, it is desired to determine the coordinate locations of fingers touching a touch input surface. In some embodiments, in order to determine the touch contact locations, one or more hypothesis sets are determined on potential location(s) of touch contact(s) and each hypothesis set is tested to determine which hypothesis set is most consistent with a detected data.

In some embodiments, determining the hypothesis set of potential touch contact locations includes dividing a touch input surface into a constrained number of points (e.g., divide into a coordinate grid) where a touch contact may be detected. For example, in order to initially constrain the number of hypothesis sets to be tested, the touch input surface is divided into a coordinate grid with relatively large spacing between the possible coordinates. Each hypothesis set includes a number of location identifiers (e.g., location coordinates) that match the number determined in 702. For example, if two was determined to be the number in 702, each hypothesis set includes two location coordinates on the determined coordinate grid that correspond to potential locations of touch contacts of a received touch input. In some embodiments, determining the one or more hypothesis sets includes determining exhaustive hypothesis sets that exhaustively cover all possible touch contact location combinations on the determined coordinate grid for the determined number of simultaneous touch contacts. In some embodiments, a previously determined touch contact location(s) of a previous determined touch input is initialized as the touch contact location(s) of a hypothesis set.

At 706, a selected hypothesis set is selected among the one or more hypothesis sets of touch contact location(s) as best corresponding to touch contact locations captured by detected signal(s). In some embodiments, one or more propagated active signals (e.g., signal transmitted at 402 of FIG. 4) that have been disturbed by a touch input on a touch input surface are received (e.g., received at 404 of FIG. 4) by one or more sensors such as sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 of FIG. 1. Each active signal transmitted from each transmitter (e.g., different active signals each transmitted by transmitters 104, 106, 108, and 110 of FIG. 1) is received by each sensor (e.g., sensors 112, 114, 116, and 118 of FIG. 1) and may be processed to determine a detected signal (e.g., spatial domain signal determined at 508 of FIG. 5) that characterizes a signal disturbance caused by the touch input. In some embodiments, for each hypothesis set of touch contact location(s), an expected signal is determined for each signal expected to be received at one or more sensors. The expected signal may be determined using a predetermined function that utilizes one or more predetermined coefficients (e.g., coefficient determined for a specific sensor and/or transmitter transmitting a signal to be received at the sensor) and the corresponding hypothesis set of touch contact location(s). The expected signal(s) may be compared with corresponding detected signal(s) to determine an indicator of a difference between all the expected signal(s) for a specific hypothesis set and the corresponding detected signals. By comparing the indicators for each of the one or more hypothesis sets, the selected hypothesis set may be selected (e.g., hypothesis set with the smallest indicated difference is selected).

At 708, it is determined whether additional optimization is to be performed. In some embodiments, determining whether additional optimization is to be performed includes determining whether any new hypothesis set(s) of touch contact location(s) should be analyzed in order to attempt to determine a better selected hypothesis set. For example, a first execution of step 706 utilizes hypothesis sets determined using locations on a larger distance increment coordinate grid overlaid on a touch input surface and additional optimization is to be performed using new hypothesis sets that include locations from a coordinate grid with smaller distance increments. Additional optimizations may be performed any number of times. In some embodiments, the number of times additional optimizations are performed is predetermined. In some embodiments, the number of times additional optimizations are performed is dynamically determined. For example, additional optimizations are performed until a comparison threshold indicator value for the selected hypothesis set is reached and/or a comparison indicator for the selected hypothesis does not improve by a threshold amount. In some embodiments, for each optimization iteration, optimization may be performed for only a single touch contact location of the selected hypothesis set and other touch contact locations of the selected hypothesis may be optimized in a subsequent iteration of optimization.

If at 708 it is determined that additional optimization should be performed, at 710, one or more new hypothesis sets of one or more touch contact locations associated with the number of the touch contacts are determined based on the selected hypothesis set. In some embodiments, determining the new hypothesis sets includes determining location points (e.g., more detailed resolution locations on a coordinate grid with smaller distance increments) near one of the touch contact locations of the selected hypothesis set in an attempt to refine the one of the touch contact locations of the selected hypothesis set. The new hypothesis sets may each include one of the newly determined location points, and the other touch contact location(s), if any, of a new hypothesis set may be the same locations as the previously selected hypothesis set. In some embodiments, the new hypothesis sets may attempt to refine all touch contact locations of the selected hypothesis set. The process proceeds back to 706, whether or not a newly selected hypothesis set (e.g., if previously selected hypothesis set still best corresponds to detected signal(s), the previously selected hypothesis set is retained as the new selected hypothesis set) is selected among the newly determined hypothesis sets of touch contact location(s).

If at 708 it is determined that additional optimization should not be performed, at 714, the selected hypothesis set is indicated as the detected location(s) of touch contact(s) of the touch input. For example, a location coordinate(s) of a touch contact(s) is provided.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for selecting a selected hypothesis set of touch contact location(s). In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 8 is included in 706 of FIG. 7. The process of FIG. 8 may be implemented in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 802, for each hypothesis set (e.g., determined at 704 of FIG. 7), an expected signal that would result if a touch contact was received at the contact location(s) of the hypothesis set is determined for each detected signal and for each touch contact location of the hypothesis set. In some embodiments, determining the expected signal includes using a function and one or more function coefficients to generate/simulate the expected signal. The function and/or one or more function coefficients may be predetermined (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) and/or dynamically determined (e.g., determined based on one or more provided touch contact locations). In some embodiments, the function and/or one or more function coefficients may be determined/selected specifically for a particular transmitter and/or sensor of a detected signal. For example, the expected signal is to be compared to a detected signal and the expected signal is generated using a function coefficient determined specifically for the pair of transmitter and sensor of the detected signal. In some embodiments, the function and/or one or more function coefficients may be dynamically determined.

In some embodiments, in the event the hypothesis set includes more than one touch contact location (e.g., multi-touch input), expected signal for each individual touch contact location is determined separately and combined together. For example, an expected signal that would result if a touch contact was provided at a single touch contact location is added with other single touch contact expected signals (e.g., effects from multiple simultaneous touch contacts add linearly) to generate a single expected signal that would result if the touch contacts of the added signals were provided simultaneously.

In some embodiments, the expected signal for a single touch contact is modeled as the function: C*P(x−d) where C is a function coefficient (e.g., complex coefficient) and P(x) is a function and d is the total path distance between a transmitter (e.g., transmitter of a signal desired to be simulated) to a touch input location and between the touch input location and a sensor (e.g., receiver of the signal desired to be simulated).

In some embodiments, the expected signal for one or more touch contacts is modeled as the function:

$\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{N}\;{C_{j}\mspace{14mu}{P\left( {x - d_{j}} \right)}}$ where j indicates which touch contact and N is the number of total simultaneous touch contacts being modeled (e.g., number of contacts determined at 702 of FIG. 7).

At 804, corresponding detected signals are compared with corresponding expected signals. In some embodiments, the detected signals include spatial domain signals determined at 508 of FIG. 5. In some embodiments, comparing the signals includes determining a mean square error between the signals. In some embodiments, comparing the signals includes determining a cost function that indicates the similarly/difference between the signals. In some embodiments, the cost function for a hypothesis set (e.g., hypothesis set determined at 704 of FIG. 7) analyzed for a single transmitter/sensor pair is modeled as:

${ɛ\left( {r_{x},t_{x}} \right)} = {{{q(x)} - {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{N}\;{C_{j}\mspace{14mu}{P\left( {x - d_{j}} \right)}}}}}^{2}$ where ε(r_(x), t_(x)) is the cost function, q(x) is the detected signal, and Σ_(j=1) ^(N)C_(j)P(x−d_(j)) is the expected signal. In some embodiments, the global cost function for a hypothesis set analyzed for more than one (e.g., all) transmitter/sensor pair is modeled as:

$ɛ = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{Z}\;{ɛ\left( {r_{x},t_{x}} \right)}_{i}}$ where ε is the global cost function, Z is the number of total transmitter/sensor pairs, i indicates the particular transmitter/sensor pair, and ε(r_(x),t_(x))_(i) is the cost function of the particular transmitter/sensor pair.

At 806, a selected hypothesis set of touch contact location(s) is selected among the one or more hypothesis sets of touch contact location(s) as best corresponding to detected signal(s). In some embodiments, the selected hypothesis set is selected among hypothesis sets determined at 704 or 710 of FIG. 7. In some embodiments, selecting the selected hypothesis set includes determining the global cost function (e.g., function ε described above) for each hypothesis set in the group of hypothesis sets and selecting the hypothesis set that results in the smallest global cost function value.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining the number of simultaneous touch contacts. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 9 is included in 702 of FIG. 7. The process of FIG. 9 may be implemented on acoustic processor 126 and/or touch detector 120 of FIG. 1.

At 902, a detected signal is received. The detected signal may be an acoustic signal. In some embodiments, the acoustic signal captures a sound/vibration generated due to one or more objects contacting a touch input surface such as the surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the detected signal is received from sensor 124 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the detected signal is received from one or more sensors of sensors 112, 114, 116 and 118. The received signal may be an ultrasonic signal. In some embodiments, the detected signal includes the disturbed active signal received at 404 of FIG. 4.

At 904, the received signal is filtered to reduce noise included in the received acoustic signal. In some embodiments, background audio, such as human speech or music, could potentially create false contact events without proper filtering and/or pulse qualification. In some embodiments, a rate of spectral change of a portion of the received signal is measured. For example, by exploiting the observation that background noise can be viewed as statistically stationary over the span of tens of milliseconds, signal portions with a relative lower rate of spectral change are identified as background noise not capturing a touch contact event. In some embodiments, a fast Fourier transform of the received acoustic signal is determined over a short time extent (e.g., less than 10 milliseconds). If a signal portion with a slow change is detected (e.g., below a threshold value), the signal portion is reduced and/or removed to filter the received signal. In some embodiments, filtering the received signal is optional. In some embodiments, filtering the received signal includes removing/reducing one or more components of an active signal included in the received signal. For example, a baseline signal (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) representing a measured signal associated with a received active signal that has not been disturbed by a touch input disturbance is subtracted from the received detected acoustic signal.

At 906, a number of simultaneous (e.g., within a threshold amount of time) touch contacts captured in the received signal is determined. In some embodiments, the number of touch contacts (e.g., fingers) touching a touch input surface may be determined by “counting” the number of touches/contacts (e.g., determine the number of times detected acoustic signal is above a threshold level) within a predetermined amount of time. For example, when a user intends to touch a touch input screen with multiple fingers at the same time, it is rare for the fingers to land on the screen at the same time. There will likely be a small delay between when the fingers land on the touch surface. The number of impacts (e.g., determined by analyzing acoustic signal received from sensor 124 of FIG. 1) may be determined from determining the number of consecutive touches within a relatively short amount of time (e.g., within a predetermined amount of time, such as 100 milliseconds). In some embodiments, determining the number of touch contacts includes determining the number of times the energy of the filtered/received signal is above a threshold energy value within a predetermined amount of time. In some embodiments, determining the number of touch contacts includes determining the number of times a rate of spectral change of the filtered/received signal is above a threshold value within a predetermined amount of time. For example, a fast Fourier transform of the received acoustic signal is determined to determine the rate of spectral change.

At 908, the determined number of touch contacts is provided. In some embodiments, the number determined at 906 is provided to a process (e.g., provided at step 702 of FIG. 7) that determines touch contact locations of a touch input.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a type of object used to provide a touch contact. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 10 is included in 702 of FIG. 7. The process of FIG. 10 may be implemented on acoustic processor 126 and/or touch detector 120 of FIG. 1.

At 1002, a detected signal is received. The detected signal may be an acoustic signal. In some embodiments, the acoustic signal captures a sound/vibration generated due to one or more objects contacting a touch input surface such as the surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the detected signal is received from sensor 124 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the detected signal is received from one or more sensors of sensors 112, 114, 116 and 118. The received signal may be an ultrasonic signal. In some embodiments, the detected signal includes the disturbed active signal received at 404 of FIG. 4.

At 1004, the received signal is filtered to reduce noise included in the received signal. In some embodiments, background audio, such as human speech or music, could potentially create false contact events without proper filtering. In some embodiments, a rate of spectral change of a portion of the received signal is measured. For example, by exploiting the observation that background noise can be viewed as statistically stationary over the span of tens of milliseconds, signal portions with a relative lower rate of spectral change are identified as background noise not capturing a touch contact event. In some embodiments, a fast Fourier transform of the received acoustic signal is determined over a short time extent (e.g., less than 10 milliseconds). If a signal component with a slow change is detected (e.g., below a threshold value), the signal portion is reduced and/or removed to filter the received signal. In some embodiments, filtering the received signal is optional. In some embodiments, filtering the received signal includes removing/reducing one or more components of an active signal included in the received signal. For example, a baseline signal (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) representing a measured signal associated with a received active signal that has not been disturbed by a touch input disturbance is subtracted from the received detected acoustic signal.

At 1006, a type of object used to provide a touch contact is determined. In some embodiments, determining the type of object includes determining whether the touch contact of a touch input was provided using a finger (e.g., which finger), a stylus (e.g., which stylus or tip of stylus), or other detectable object. In some embodiments, determining the type of object includes analyzing an energy/signal captured in the received/filtered signal due to the touch contact of the object on a touch input surface. In some embodiments, portion(s) of the received/filtered signal that are each associated with a touch contact are identified. For example, using at least a portion of the process of FIG. 9, portion(s) of the received signal corresponding to each touch contact are identified and for each touch contact a type of object used to provide the touch contact is determined.

In some embodiments, at least a portion of the received/filtered signal corresponding to a touch input contact is analyzed to determine whether it matches a known signature (e.g., acoustic signature waveform) of a known object type. For example, a finger touching a touch input surface may be characterized by a different detected acoustic signature as compared to a harder object such as a pen or a stylus. A different waveform signature associated with each detectable object type may be compared to at least a portion of the received/filtered signal to determine the type of the object contacting the touch input surface. In some embodiments, the object type waveform signatures are predetermined and stored in a dictionary/data structure. For example, for each object type desired to be detectable, a sample signal of the object contacting a sample touch input surface is captured and characterized as the object type waveform signature of the object. If at least a portion of the received/filtered signature matches (e.g., within a threshold difference) one of the predetermined signatures, an object type associated with the matched signature is identified as the object type of the portion of the received/filtered signal.

In some embodiments, determining the object type of the touch contact includes feature matching in the time domain by correlating a waveform of at least a portion of the received/filtered signal against a known “dictionary” of waveforms from contact events. In some embodiments, determining the object type of the touch contact includes frequency-domain matching of at least a portion of the received/filtered signal against a known “dictionary” of frequency-domain spectra from contact events. In some embodiments, determining the object type of the touch contact includes wavelet-domain matching of at least a portion of the received/filtered signal against a known “dictionary” of wavelet-domain transforms from contact events.

At 1008, the identified touch contact object type is provided. In some embodiments, the type determined at 1006 is provided to an application (e.g., to application system 122) to provide an interaction/functionality based on the identified object type. In some embodiments, differentiation between a stylus or pen contact versus a human finger can be used to initiate different behaviors on a device. For example, detection of a stylus contact may invoke handwriting detection on an application.

FIG. 11 shows a waveform diagram of an example received/filtered signal that has been identified with touch contact object types. Waveform 1100 shows four touch contacts that have been identified (e.g., using the process of FIG. 9) and type identified (e.g., using the process of FIG. 10) with the object type that provided the touch contact. As shown in FIG. 11, the waveforms of the fingertip touch contact vs. a metal stylus tip touch contact are distinctly different and may be identified using corresponding touch input object type acoustic waveform signatures.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance on a surface. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 12 is included in 406 of FIG. 4. The process of FIG. 12 may be implemented in touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2. At 1202, a received signal is conditioned. In some embodiments, the received signal is a signal including a pseudorandom binary sequence that has been freely propagated through a medium with a surface that can be used to receive a user input. For example, the received signal is the signal that has been received at 404 of FIG. 4. In some embodiments, conditioning the signal includes filtering or otherwise modifying the received signal to improve signal quality (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio) for detection of a pseudorandom binary sequence included in the received signal and/or user touch input. In some embodiments, conditioning the received signal includes filtering out from the signal extraneous noise and/or vibrations not likely associated with a user touch indication.

At 1204, an analog to digital signal conversion is performed on the signal that has been conditioned at 1202. In various embodiments, any number of standard analog to digital signal converters may be used. The resulting digital signal is used to perform a first correlation at 1206. In some embodiments, performing the first correlation includes correlating the converted signal with a reference signal. Performing the correlation includes cross-correlating or determining a convolution (e.g., interferometry) of the converted signal with a reference signal to measure the similarity of the two signals as a time-lag is applied to one of the signals. By performing the correlation, the location of a portion of the converted signal that most corresponds to the reference signal can be located. For example, a result of the correlation can be plotted as a graph of time within the received and converted signal (e.g., time-lag between the signals) vs. a measure of similarity. The associated time value of the largest value of the measure of similarity corresponds to the location where the two signals most correspond. By comparing this measured time value against a reference time value (e.g., at 306 of FIG. 3) not associated with a touch indication disturbance, a time delay/offset or phase difference caused on the received signal due to a disturbance caused by a touch input can be determined. In some embodiments, by measuring the amplitude/intensity difference of the received signal at the determined time vs. a reference signal, a force associated with a touch indication may be determined. In some embodiments, the reference signal is determined based at least in part on the signal that was propagated through a medium (e.g., based on a source pseudorandom binary sequence signal that was propagated). In some embodiments, the reference signal is at least in part determined using information determined during calibration at 306 of FIG. 3. The reference signal may be chosen so that calculations required to be performed during the correlation may be simplified. For example, the reference signal used in 1206 is a simplified reference signal that can be used to efficiently correlate the reference signal over a relatively large time difference (e.g., lag-time) between the received and converted signal and the reference signal.

At 1208, a second correlation is performed based on a result of the first correlation. Performing the second correlation includes correlating (e.g., cross-correlation or convolution similar to step 1206) the converted signal in 1204 with a second reference signal. The second reference signal is a more complex/detailed (e.g., more computationally intensive) reference signal as compared to the first reference signal used in 1206. In some embodiments, the second correlation is performed in 1208 because using the second reference signal in 1206 may be too computationally intensive for the time interval required to be correlated in 1206. Performing the second correlation based on the result of the first correlation includes using one or more time values determined as a result of the first correlation. For example, using a result of the first correlation, a range of likely time values (e.g., time-lag) that most correlate between the received signal and the first reference signal is determined and the second correlation is performed using the second reference signal only across the determined range of time values to fine tune and determine the time value that most corresponds to where the second reference signal (and, by association, also the first reference signal) matched the received signal. In various embodiments, the first and second correlations have been used to determine a portion within the received signal that correspond to a disturbance caused by a touch input at a location on a surface of a propagating medium. In other embodiments, the second correlation is optional. For example, only a single correlation step is performed.

At 1210, a result of the second correlation is used to at least in part determine a location associated with a disturbance. In some embodiments, determining the location includes comparing a determined time value where the signals of the second correlation are most correlated and comparing the determined time value with a reference time value (e.g., determined at 306 of FIG. 3) not associated with a touch input disturbance, to determine a time delay/offset or phase difference caused on the received signal due to the disturbance (e.g., caused by a touch input). This time delay is associated with a signal received at a first sensor and other time delays due to the disturbance at other signals received at other sensors are used to calculate a location of the disturbance relative to the locations of the sensors. By using the location of the sensors relative to a surface of a medium that has propagated the received signal, a location on the surface where the disturbance originated may be determined.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining a location associated with a disturbance. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 13 is included in 1210 of FIG. 12. At 1302, a plurality of results of correlations performed on a plurality of signals disturbed by a disturbance of a surface is received. For example, a result of the correlation performed at 1208 of FIG. 12 is received. In some embodiments, a signal is propagated using transmitter 104 and sensors 114, 116, and 118 each receives the propagated signal that has been disturbed by a touch input on or near a surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1. The propagated signal may contain a predetermined signal and the predetermined signal is received at the various sensors. Each of the received signals is correlated with a reference signal to determine the results received at 1302. In some embodiments, the received results are associated with a same signal content (e.g., same binary sequence) that has been freely propagated on a medium at the same time. In some embodiments, the received results are associated with different signal contents that have been disturbed by the same disturbance.

At 1304, time differences associated with the plurality of results are used to determine a location associated with the disturbance. In some embodiments, each of the time differences is associated with a time when signals used in the correlation are most correlated. In some embodiments, the time differences are associated with a determined time delay/offset or phase difference caused on the received signal due to the disturbance. This time delay may be calculated by comparing a time value determined using a correlation with a reference time value that is associated with a scenario where a touch input has not been specified. The result of the comparison may be used to calculate a location of the disturbance relative to the locations of sensors that received the plurality of signals. By using the location of the sensors relative to a surface of a medium that has propagated the received signal, a location on the surface where the disturbance originated may be determined.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process of determining a force associated with a user input. The process of FIG. 14 may be implemented on touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 1402, a location associated with a user input on a touch input surface is determined. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the process of FIG. 4 is included in step 1402. For example, the process of FIG. 4 is used to determine a location associated with a user touch input. In another example, a location associated with a user input at location 130 on a surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1 is determined.

At 1404, one or more received signals are selected to be evaluated. In some embodiments, selecting the signal(s) to be evaluated include selecting one or more desired signals from a plurality of received signals used to detect the location associated with the user input. For example, one or more signals received in step 404 of FIG. 4 are selected. In some embodiments, the selected signal(s) are selected based at least in part on a signal-to-noise ratio associated with signals. In some embodiments, one or more signals with the highest signal-to-noise ratio are selected. For example, when an active signal that is propagated through a touch input surface medium is disturbed/scattered by a touch input, the disturbed signal is detected/received at various detectors/sensors/receivers coupled to the medium. The received disturbed signals may be subject to other undesirable disturbances such as other minor vibration sources (e.g., due to external audio vibration, device movement, etc.) that also disturb the active signal. The effects of these undesirable disturbances may be larger on received signals that were received further away from the location of the touch input.

In some embodiments, a variation (e.g., disturbance such as amplitude change) detected in an active signal received at a receiver/sensor may be greater at certain receivers (e.g., receivers located closest to the location of the touch input) as compared to other receivers. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, touch input at location 130 disturbs an active signal sent by transmitter 104. The disturbed active signal is received at sensors/receivers 112, 114, 116, and 118. Because sensor/receiver 114 is located closest to touch input location 130, it has received a disturbed signal with the largest amplitude variation that is proportional to the force of the touch input. In some embodiments, the selected signals may have been selected at least in part by examining the amplitude of a detected disturbance. For example, one or more signals with the highest amplitude associated with a detected touch input disturbance are selected. In some embodiments, based at least in part on a location determined in 1402, one or more signals received at one or more receivers located closest to the touch input location are selected. In some embodiments, a plurality of active signals is used to detect a touch input location and/or touch input force intensity. One or more received signals to be used to determine a force intensity may be selected for each of the active signals. In some embodiments, one or more received signals to be used to determine the force intensity may be selected across the received signals of all the active signals.

At 1406, the one or more selected signals are normalized. In some embodiments, normalizing a selected signal includes adjusting (e.g., scaling) an amplitude of the selected signal based on a distance value associated with the selected signal. For example, although an amount/intensity of force of a touch input may be detected by measuring an amplitude of a received active signal that has been disturbed by the force of the touch input, other factors such as the location of the touch input with respect to a receiver that has received the disturbed signal and/or location of the transmitter transmitting the active signal may also affect the amplitude of the received signal used to determine the intensity of the force. In some embodiments, a distance value/identifier associated with one or more of the following is used to determine a scaling factor used to scale a selected signal: a distance between a location of a touch input and a location of a receiver that has received the selected signal, a distance between a location of a touch input and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by a touch input and received as the selected signal, a distance between a location of a receiver that has received the selected signal and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by a touch input and received as the selected signal, and a combined distance of a first distance between a location of a touch input and a location of a receiver that has received the selected signal and a second distance between the location of the touch input and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by a touch input and received as the selected signal. In some embodiments, each of one or more selected signals is normalized by a different amount (e.g., different amplitude scaling factors).

At 1408, a force intensity identifier associated with the one or more normalized signals is determined. The force intensity identifier may include a numerical value and/or other identifier identifying a force intensity. In some embodiments, if a plurality of normalized signals is used, an associated force may be determined for each normalized signal and the determined forces may be averaged and/or weighted-averaged to determine the amount of the force. For example, in the case of weighted averaging of the force values, each determined force value is weighted based on an associated signal-to-noise ratio, an associated amplitude value, and/or an associated distance value between a receiver of the normalized signal and the location of the touch input.

In some embodiments, the amount of force is determined using a measured amplitude associated with a disturbed portion of the normalized signal. For example, the normalized signal represents a received active signal that has been disturbed when a touch input was provided on a surface of a medium that was propagating the active signal. A reference signal may indicate a reference amplitude of a received active signal if the active signal was not disturbed by a touch input. In some embodiments, an amplitude value associated with an amplitude change to the normalized signal caused by a force intensity of a touch input is determined. For example, the amplitude value may be a measured amplitude of a disturbance detected in a normalized signal or a difference between a reference amplitude and the measured amplitude of the disturbance detected in the normalized signal. In some embodiments, the amplitude value is used to obtain an amount/intensity of a force.

In some embodiments, the use of the amplitude value includes using the amplitude value to look up in a data structure (e.g., table, database, chart, graph, lookup table, list, etc.) a corresponding associated force intensity. For example, the data structure includes entries associating a signal disturbance amplitude value and a corresponding force intensity identifier. The data structure may be predetermined/pre-computed. For example, for a given device, a controlled amount of force is applied and the disturbance effect on an active signal due to the controlled amount of force is measured to determine an entry for the data structure. The force intensity may be varied to determine other entries of the data structure. In some embodiments, the data structure is associated with a specific receiver that received the signal included in the normalized signal. For example, the data structure includes data that has been specifically determined for characteristics of a specific receiver (e.g., for sensor/receiver 114 of FIG. 1). In some embodiments, the use of the amplitude value to look up a corresponding force intensity identifier stored in a data structure includes selecting a specific data structure and/or a specific portion of a data structure corresponding to the normalized signal and/or a receiver that received the signal included in the normalized signal. In some embodiments, the data structure is associated with a plurality of receivers. For example, the data structure includes entries associated with averages of data determined for characteristics of each receiver in the plurality of receivers. In this example, the same data structure may be used for a plurality of normalized signals associated with various receivers.

In some embodiments, the use of the amplitude value includes using the amplitude value in a formula that can be used to simulate and/or calculate a corresponding force intensity. For example, the amplitude value is used as an input to a predetermined formula used to compute a corresponding force intensity. In some embodiments, the formula is associated with a specific receiver that received the signal of the normalized signal. For example, the formula includes one or more parameters (e.g., coefficients) that have been specifically determined for characteristics of a specific receiver (e.g., for sensor/receiver 114 of FIG. 1). In some embodiments, the use of the amplitude value in a formula calculation includes selecting a specific formula corresponding to the normalized signal and/or a receiver that received the signal included in the normalized signal. In some embodiments, a single formula is associated with a plurality of receivers. For example, a formula includes averaged parameter values of parameter values that have been specifically determined for characteristics for each of the receivers in the plurality of receivers. In this example, the same formula may be used for a plurality of normalized signals associated with different receivers.

At 1410, the determined force intensity identifier is provided. In some embodiments, providing the force intensity identifier includes providing the identifier (e.g., a numerical value, an identifier within a scale, etc.) to an application such as an application of application system 122 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the provided force intensity identifier is provided with a corresponding touch input location identifier determined in step 406 of FIG. 4. In some embodiments, the provided force intensity identifier is used to provide a user interface interaction.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for determining an entry of a data structure used to determine a force intensity identifier. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 15 is included in step 304 of FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 15 is used at least in part to create the data structure that may be used in step 1408 of FIG. 14. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 15 is used at least in part to calibrate the system of FIG. 1 and/or the system of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 15 is used at least in part to determine a data structure that can be included in one or more devices to be manufactured to determine a force intensity identifier/value corresponding to an amplitude value of a disturbance detected in the received active signal. For example, the data structure may be determined for a plurality of similar devices to be manufactured or the data structure may be determined for a specific device taking into account the manufacturing variation of the device.

At 1502, a controlled amount of force is applied at a selected location on a touch input surface. In some embodiments, the force is provided on a location of a surface of medium 102 of FIG. 1 where a touch input may be provided. In some embodiments, a tip of a pointer (e.g., stylus) is pressing at the surface with a controllable amount of force. For example, a controlled amount of force is applied on a touch input surface while an active signal is being propagated through a medium of the touch input surface. The amount of force applied in 1502 may be one of a plurality of different amounts of force that will be applied on the touch input surface.

At 1504, an effect of the applied force is measured using one or more receivers. Examples of the receivers include sensors 112-118 of FIG. 1 and transducer transmitters used as receivers (e.g., transmitters 104-110 of FIG. 1). In some embodiments, measuring the effect includes measuring an amplitude associated with a disturbed portion of an active signal that has been disturbed when the force was applied in 1502 and that has been received by the one or more receivers. The amplitude may be a directly measured amplitude value or a difference between a reference amplitude and a detected amplitude. In some embodiments, the signal received by the one or more receivers is normalized before the amplitude is measured. In some embodiments, normalizing a received signal includes adjusting (e.g., scaling) an amplitude of the signal based on a distance value associated with the selected signal.

A reference signal may indicate a reference amplitude of a received active signal that has not been disturbed by a touch input. In some embodiments, an amplitude value associated with an amplitude change caused by a disturbance of a touch input is determined. For example, the amplitude value may be a measured amplitude value of a disturbance detected in a normalized signal or a difference between a reference amplitude and the measured amplitude value of the disturbance detected in the normalized signal. In some embodiments, the amplitude value is used to obtain an identifier of a force intensity.

In some embodiments, a distance value associated with one or more of the following is used to determine a scaling factor used to scale a received signal before an effect of a disturbance is measured using the received signal: a distance between a location of a touch input and a location of a receiver that has received the selected signal, a distance between a location of the force input and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by the force input and received by the receiver, a distance between a location of the receiver and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by the force input and received by the receiver, and a combined distance of a first distance between a location of a force input and a location of the receiver and a second distance between the location of the force input and a location of a transmitter that has transmitted an active signal that has been disturbed by the force input and received by the receiver. In some embodiments, each of one or more signals received by different receivers is normalized by a different amount (e.g., different amplitude scaling factors).

At 1506, data associated with the measured effect is stored. In some embodiments, storing the data includes storing an entry in a data structure such as the data structure that may be used in step 1408 of FIG. 14. For example, an entry that associates the amplitude value determined in 1504 and an identifier associated with an amount of force applied in 1502 is stored in the data structure. In some embodiments, storing the data includes indexing the data by an amplitude value determined in 1504. For example, the stored data may be retrieved from the storage using the amplitude value. In some embodiments, the data structure is determined for a specific signal receiver. In some embodiments, a data structure is determined for a plurality of signal receivers. For example, data associated with the measured effect on signals received at each receiver of a plurality of receivers is averaged and stored. In some embodiments, storing the data includes storing the data in a format that can be used to generate a graph such as the graph of FIG. 9.

In some embodiments, the process of FIG. 15 is repeated for different applied force intensities, different receivers, different force application locations, and/or different types of applied forces (e.g., different force application tip). Data stored from the repeated execution of the steps of FIG. 15 may be used to fill the data structure that may be used in step 1408 of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 includes graphs illustrating examples of a relationship between a normalized amplitude value of a measured disturbance and an applied force. Graph 1600 plots an applied force intensity (in grams of force) of a touch input vs. a measured amplitude of a disturbance caused by the applied force for a single receiver. Graph 1602 plots an applied force intensity of a touch input vs. a measured amplitude of a disturbance caused by the applied force for different receivers. The plots of the different receivers may be averaged and combined into a single plot. In some embodiments, graph 1600 and/or graph 1602 may be derived from data stored in the data structure that may be used in step 1408 of FIG. 14. In some embodiments, graph 1600 and/or graph 1602 may be generated using data stored in step 1506 of FIG. 15. Graphs 1600 and 1602 show that there exists an increasing functional relationship between measured amplitude and applied force. Using a predetermined graph, data structure, and/or formula that model this relationship, an associated force intensity identifier may be determined for a given amplitude value (e.g., such as in step 1408 of FIG. 14).

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for providing a combined force. The process of FIG. 17 may be implemented on touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 1702, forces associated with each touch input location point of a plurality of touch input location points are determined. In some embodiments, a user touch input may be represented by a plurality of touch input locations (e.g., multi-touch input, touch input covering a relatively large area, etc.). In some embodiments, for each touch input location point, at least a portion of the process of FIG. 14 is used to determine an associated force. For example, a force intensity identifier is determined for each input location in the plurality of touch input locations.

At 1704, the determined forces are combined to determine a combined force. For example, the combined force represents a total amount of force applied on a touch input surface. In some embodiments, combining the forces includes adding a numerical representation of the forces together to determine the combined force. In some embodiments, a numerical representation of each determined force is weighted before being added together. For example, each numerical value of a determined force is weighted (e.g., multiplied by a scalar) based on an associated signal-to-noise ratio, an associated amplitude value, and/or an associated distance value between a receiver and a location of a touch input. In some embodiments, the weights of the forces being weighted must sum to the number of forces being combined.

At 1706, the combined force is provided. In some embodiments, providing the combined force includes providing a force intensity identifier to an application such as an application of application system 122 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, provided combined force is used to provide a user interface interaction. In an alternative embodiment, rather than providing the combine force, the determined forces for each touch input location point of a plurality of touch input location points are provided.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for providing a user interface interaction. The process of FIG. 18 may be implemented on touch detector 120 of FIG. 1 and/or touch detector 202 of FIG. 2.

At 1802, one or more indicators associated with a location and a force intensity of a user input are received. In some embodiments, the indicator(s) include data provided in step 1410 of FIG. 14 and/or step 1706 of FIG. 17. In some embodiments, indicators associated with a sequence of locations and associated force intensities are received.

At 1804, a user interface object associated with the location is determined. In some embodiments, the user input is a touch screen user interface input and the user interface element desired to be indicated by the user input is determined. For example, the user input is detected at a location where an icon has been displayed and it is determined that a user has desired to select the user icon by providing a touch input at a location of the icon. In some embodiments, the user interface object includes an object displayed on a touchscreen. In some embodiments, the user interface object is not an object already displayed on a screen. For example, a hidden keyboard user interface object appears when a user touches a specific area of a touch input screen.

At 1806, a user interface interaction based at least in part on the user interface object and the force intensity is provided. For example, a user may indicate a desired user interface action by varying the amount of force applied on a touch input surface and the user interaction indicated by the received data in 1102 is provided. Examples of the possible user interface interactions are described in the following paragraphs.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to drag and drop an item into a file system folder. In some embodiments, a user may drag a desired item (e.g., a file, a folder, a reference, a link, an object, etc.) by touching the desired item with a relatively “light” force applied to a pointer (e.g., finger, stylus, etc.) and dragging the pointer. A user may desire to drag and drop the desired item to a folder to move or copy the item into the folder. However if the user wants to drag and drop the desired item into a subfolder of the folder, a user typically has to open the folder to reveal the desired subfolder before dragging and dropping the desired item. In some embodiments, in order to move or copy an item to a subfolder of a displayed folder, a user may drag the desired item by touching the desired item with a relatively “light” force applied to a pointer (e.g., finger, stylus, etc.) and dragging the pointer to the displayed folder and applying a force intensity above a threshold level to descend into the subfolders of the displayed folder and releasing the pointer once a desired subfolder is found. As shown in diagram 1900, a file may be moved by a “light” touch input to an icon representing the file and dragging the touch input to a displayed folder and applying greater force intensity to the touch input to descend into the contents of the displayed folder until a desired destination subfolder is displayed. In some embodiments, by varying the amount of pressure of a touch input, a file system hierarchy may be explored. In some embodiments, a touch input force intensity greater than a first threshold level indicates a command to navigate into a lower file system hierarchy and a touch input force less than a second threshold level (in some cases, the second threshold level may be the same as the first threshold level) indicates a command to navigate to a higher file system hierarchy. The threshold levels may be preconfigured, dynamically determined, and/or may be configurable.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to provide a context menu. In some embodiments, traditional touch input device button (e.g., mouse button) functionality may be mapped to one or more force intensity levels. For example, a “left button click” input may be performed by a touch input with a force within a first intensity range and a “right button click” input may be performed by a touch input with a force within a second intensity range. In some embodiments, a “middle button click” input may be performed by a touch input with a force within a third intensity range. In some embodiments, a user may select an area (e.g., spreadsheet cells) or text by performing a touch and drag operation with a force intensity below a predetermined threshold. Before the touch input is released, a user may indicate that a context menu is desired (e.g., “right button click”) by increasing the force of the touch input above a predetermined/dynamic/configurable threshold level. Diagram 2000 shows text selected using a touch and drag operation and a context menu displayed when the force of the touch input was increased above a predetermined/dynamic/configurable threshold level.

FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 are diagrams showing examples of user interface interactions using force information to navigate a menu. As shown in diagram 2100, a user may navigate a menu by touching and dragging a touch input to desired menu items. A user selects a menu item by increasing the force of the touch input above a threshold level and a user cancels the menu by releasing the touch input without ever increasing the force of the touch input above the threshold level. As shown in diagram 2200, a user can navigate a cascading menu by touching and dragging a touch input to desired cascading menu items. A user selects a cascading menu item by increasing the force of the touch input above a threshold level and a user cancels the cascading menu by releasing touch input without ever increasing the force of the touch input above the threshold level. The threshold levels may be preconfigured, dynamically determined, and/or configurable.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to interact with a virtual keyboard. In some embodiments, the virtual keyboard includes a keyboard that is displayed on a screen or projected on a surface. In some embodiments, a touch input key of a virtual keyboard is only registered as a key press if the force of the touch input is above a threshold level or within a first intensity range. For example, “lightly” resting fingers on a virtual keyboard will not register key presses on the virtual keyboard and a touch input will only be registered a key press when a greater force intensity is provided on the key of the virtual keyboard. This may reduce spurious key press events (e.g., often generated simply due to a finger lightly brushing or contacting the surface). In some embodiments, alternate key functionality may be indicated based on a force of touch input. For example, if a force of a touch input on a key is within a first range, a lower case or normal character of the key is indicated and if the force of the touch input is within a second range (e.g., greater than the first range), then a shifted/capitalized character of the key is indicated. The threshold levels may be preconfigured, dynamically determined, and/or configurable.

In some embodiments, a touch input gesture and a force associated with the gesture indicates that a virtual keyboard should be displayed and/or not displayed. For example, when a predetermined number of distinct touch inputs are detected simultaneously (e.g., 4 or 5 fingers of each hand resting on a touch input surface), a keyboard is displayed. In some embodiments, a displayed virtual keyboard is oriented and/or located on a screen based at least in part on one or more touch inputs received. For example, a virtual keyboard is oriented and placed on a touch input display surface such that when fingers of a user are rested on the surface, the keys of the home row of the virtual keyboard are placed under the location and orientation of the placed fingers of the user to place the virtual keyboard in standard touch typing position with respect to the user's fingers. The keyboard may be split to match the orientation of fingers of the user's two hands. Diagram 2300 shows a virtual keyboard that has been displayed for a user that has placed fingers of the user's left hand higher and angled out as compared to fingers of the user's right hand that has been placed lower in the opposite angle. In some embodiments, a touch input to a key of the virtual keyboard of diagram 2300 is only registered as a keyboard key press if the force of the touch input is above a threshold. The threshold levels may be preconfigured, dynamically determined, and/or configurable.

FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 are diagrams showing example user interface interactions using force information to zoom and select user interface objects. In some embodiments, force information is used to aid in navigating a dense array of objects on the screen (such as icons, keys, or several hyperlinks close by one another in a body of text). As shown in diagram 2400 and 2500, by “lightly” touching a touch input display surface, a region around the touch contact point is shown magnified on a display, indicating in greater detail what object on the screen is underneath the contact point that is being used to provide touch input. When the object to be selected (e.g., icon in diagram 2400 and keyboard key in diagram 2500) is underneath the contact point, increasing the force of the touch input to a level greater than a predetermined threshold level (e.g., configurable) selects the object. In some embodiments, when a user selects an object and/or completes a user interface action, a physical feedback (e.g., haptic feedback), visual feedback, and/or audio feedback may be provided. In some embodiments, when a force of a touch input reaches a threshold level, a physical feedback (e.g., haptic feedback), visual feedback, and/or audio feedback may be provided.

In some embodiments, force information of touch input is used to distinguish between different gestures that otherwise might be identical or very similar. For example, a swipe touchscreen gesture of a first force intensity within a first threshold range may be interpreted as a scrolling/panning indication and a swipe touchscreen gesture of a second force intensity within a second threshold range may be interpreted as a “change to the next window/tab” indication.

FIG. 26 is a graph illustrating an example of a relationship between detected touch input force and direction of change in audio volume. Graph 2600 shows that when a touch input is within a first intensity range, volume is not changed, when a touch input is within a second intensity range, volume decrease functionality is indicated, and when a touch input is within a third intensity range, volume increase functionality is indicated. In some embodiments, force information of a touch input is used to control audio volume level of a device. In some embodiments, volume is increased if a force of a touch input is above a threshold value (e.g., predetermined, dynamically determined, and/or configurable) and the volume is decreased if the force is below the threshold value. In some embodiments, the touch input must be received in a specified area (e.g., displayed volume adjustment bar or a designated area of a device for adjusting volume) to control the volume. In some embodiments, the rate of change of the volume is proportional to an amount of force applied in a touch input. In some embodiments, an audio output destination is selected based at least in part on a force of a touch input. For example, the audio is outputted to an earpiece of a device with no touch input, and as a touch input is provided with an increasing force that meets a threshold level, a speakerphone function engages at a volume proportional to a detected force.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example user interface interaction using force information to interact with a slider bar. In some embodiments, a slider bar may be used to indicate an intensity level or a time location (e.g., video position during playback). In some embodiments, when navigating through a video sequence, a user wants the slider to move quickly to a particular time index/portion of the sequence, but then move with greater precision to focus on a particular scene or even a single frame of video. Diagram 2700 shows a slider bar that can be moved by touching and dragging on the slider bar with a touch input.

In some embodiments, a speed or precision of slider bar movement using touch input dragging may be proportional to the force intensity level of the touch input. For example, a slider control moves with detailed/fine precision when “light” pressure is applied but moves with coarse/faster precision when “harder” pressure is applied. In some embodiments, the slider bar may be moved with greater (e.g., fine or less granular) precision when a touch input force intensity within a first intensity range is applied and moved with less (e.g., coarse or more granular) precision when a touch input force intensity within a second intensity range is applied. The threshold levels may be preconfigured, dynamically determined, and/or configurable.

In some embodiments, a velocity at which an object such as a finger or stylus contacts a touch input surface is used to control a user interface. For example, video games, virtual musical instruments (drums and pianos are two common examples), and other applications may utilize velocity information to provide desired functionality. In some embodiments, measurement of contact velocity may be achieved by measuring the rate of change of the force. For example, if the touch force changes at a given point from 0 to 0.5 pounds in 20 milliseconds, it can be inferred that the finger or other object impacted the touch input screen at high velocity. On the other hand, a change in force from 0 to 0.1 pounds in 100 milliseconds could be construed as a relatively low velocity. Both the absolute measure of pressure and the rate-of-change of pressure may be useful measures of information in user interface design.

Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limited to the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for detecting a touch input force, comprising: a signal generator configured to send a signal to be used to propagate a propagating signal from a fixed location through a propagating medium with a surface, wherein system is configured to receive a disturbed version of the propagating signal, and the disturbed version of the propagating signal includes the propagating signal that propagated from the fixed location to a touch input location on the surface where the propagating signal was disturbed by a touch input with an amount of force on the surface; and a processor configured to process the received disturbed version of the propagating signal to determine an identifier associated with the amount of force, wherein processing the received disturbed version of the propagating signal includes normalizing the received disturbed version of the propagating signal originating on the propagating medium from the fixed location different from the touch input location, normalizing the received disturbed version of the propagating signal includes adjusting at least a portion of the received disturbed version of the propagating signal in determining an adjusted amplitude, and adjusting at least the portion of the received disturbed version of the propagating signal includes scaling an initial amplitude of the received disturbed version of the propagating signal using a value determined using a distance value associated with the touch input location of the disturbance on the surface that is different from the originating fixed location of the propagating signal and that has been determined using the received disturbed version of the propagating signal prior to scaling the initial amplitude of the received disturbed version of the propagating signal in determining a magnitude of the amount of force of the touch input.
 2. A system, comprising: a signal communication interface configured to: send an output signal to be used to propagate a propagating signal through a propagating medium with a touch input surface, wherein the propagating signal is to be allowed to propagate through the propagating medium to a plurality of receivers coupled to the propagating medium; and a processor configured to: receive a signal affected by a contact contacting the propagating medium, wherein the received signal includes a signal portion that corresponds to the propagating signal that has been disturbed by the contact; compare at least a portion of the received signal with one or more reference signal signatures of one or more contact types, including by being configured to compare with the one or more reference signal signatures of the one or more contact types at least a portion of a version of the signal portion of the received signal that corresponds to the propagating signal that has been disturbed by the contact; and based at least in part on the comparison, select one of the one or more contact types as corresponding to the contact contacting the propagating medium.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more contact types includes a finger contact type and a non-finger contact type.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to, based at least in part on the comparison, determine a force magnitude and/or a location of the contact.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to compare at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures including by being configured to compare an amplitude of the received signal with an amplitude of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein the received signal was detected using a transducer.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to compare at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures including by being configured to match in a time domain by correlating the at least a portion of the received signal with one or more waveforms of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 8. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to compare at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures including by being configured to frequency-domain match at least a portion of the received signal with one or more frequency-domain spectra of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 9. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to compare at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures including by being configured to wavelet-domain match at least a portion of the received signal with one or more wavelet-domain transforms of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 10. The system of claim 2, wherein the received signal was detected by converting a detected vibrational energy to the received signal.
 11. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to filter a background noise included in the received signal including by being configured to measure a rate of spectral change of at least a portion of the received signal.
 12. A method, comprising: sending an output signal to be used to propagate a propagating signal through a propagating medium with a touch input surface, wherein the propagating signal is allowed to propagate through the propagating medium to a plurality of receivers coupled to the propagating medium; receiving a signal affected by a contact contacting the propagating medium, wherein the received signal includes a signal portion that corresponds to the propagating signal that has been disturbed by the contact; comparing at least a portion of the received signal with one or more reference signal signatures of one or more contact types, wherein comparing at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures of the one or more contact types includes comparing with the one or more reference signal signatures of the one or more contact types at least a portion of a version of the signal portion of the received signal that corresponds to the propagating signal that has been disturbed by the contact; and based at least in part on the comparison, selecting one of the one or more contact types as corresponding to the contact contacting the propagating medium.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more contact types includes at least a finger contact type and a non-finger contact type.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein based at least in part on the comparison, a force magnitude and/or a location of the contact is determined.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein comparing at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures includes comparing an amplitude of the received signal with an amplitude of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the received signal was detected using a transducer.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein comparing at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures includes matching in a time domain by correlating the at least a portion of the received signal with one or more waveforms of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein comparing at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures includes frequency-domain matching at least a portion of the received signal with one or more frequency-domain spectra of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 19. The method of claim 12, wherein comparing at least the portion of the received signal with the one or more reference signal signatures includes wavelet-domain matching at least a portion of the received signal with one or more wavelet-domain transforms of the one or more reference signal signatures.
 20. The method of claim 12, further comprising filtering a background noise included in the received signal including by measuring a rate of spectral change of at least a portion of the received signal. 